“The formulation of a question is its solution”- Karl Marx
It is little wonder that the “revelations” by the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Mr. Ola Olukoyede, on the “mind-boggling” corruption in the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, NNPCL, that he revealed during a hearing of the Public Accounts Committees of the Senate and the House of Representatives, did not seem to create a ripple let alone a storm of indignation across the country. That expose is not unique or limited to NNPCL alone. It is generic and traverses all the strata of government and corporate life in Nigeria.
The NNPCL represents a tip of the iceberg upon which the ship of the nation could be wrecked like the Titanic driven by the rolling and relentless waves of all-encompassing corruption in this country.
Nigerians have become so deadened and numbed by long exposure to every conceivable form of malpractice and outrage that today they care less about what goes on in government because of the sense of forlon abandonment and lack of any hope of correction to remedy the Nigerian condition today.
That sentiment of despair notwithstanding, it is the duty of the essayist to provoke profound thinking about conditions of a people and generate discussion on remedial measures that would need to be taken.
The question posed about whether Nigeria is beyond redemption is very pertinent at this point in time in the evolution of our nation. Every fibre of my being struggles not to answer that question in the affirmative. However, reason obstinately cautions me against indulging in false hopes and to temper my optimism with prudence.
It whispers to me that the betterment of the Nigerian condition may not come about anytime soon or so easily.
This conundrum has agitated my mind for long and it becomes more poignant and insistent as I grow older. I realise that with each passing year, the conditions in which I find my country are getting no better but incrementally getting worrisome.
I compared my life as a student in Ahmadu Bello University in Zaria, from 1977 to 1981, and a fresh graduate in 1982 with my situation today as a retired senior federal civil servant.
I find to my sadness, that I was better off in terms of the quality of my life more than 40 years ago than now. It is possible that readers of this first installment of a series of weekly articles on the state of the Nigerian nation, might share this sense of fatalistic resignation with me.
In the absence of the ability to do anything to rectify the deterioration of affairs in our country, a recourse to philosophical musings could be the only consolation one may derive, as Anicius Boethius discovered, while waiting in prison for his executioners to arrive.
Likening our condition to being in the state of imprisonment may not be altogether far-fetched. We have become captives to all pervading interests that have taken over our country and run us aground on the towering rocks of indifference and incompetence.
In my relentless search for answers to my question whether Nigeria is beyond redemption, I dug up and read the scholarly article, “Prebendalism and Dysfunctionality in Nigeria”, by Professor Richard Joseph (Africaplus, July 26, 2013) with particular interest and concentration.
I also spent some time perusing with more than casual affinity and passing interest, the collection of articles, “For the Liberation of Nigeria”, by my late teacher and mentor, Dr. Yusuf Bala Usman, whose clarity of thought and prescience astonishingly remain fresh and vibrant today as they were in 1978.
I recommend to the reading public the validity of the writings of Professor Joseph and Dr. Usman with regards to the dilemma of governance that has taxed our mental capacity especially since our much touted return to civil rule in 1999.
The erudite writings of these scholars offer insights into the critical challenges that confront Nigeria in the realm of governance and the march towards a semblance of viable nationhood. Their writings invariably brought to my mind the elements of the discourse associated with the agitation for restructuring of the country and the need for acceptable resource allocation formulae, that could accommodate and assuage the grievances of different competing communities in the complex milieu of contradictions and interests that form Nigeria today.
Professor Joseph’s diagnosis of the “fundamental flaw in Nigerian politics, economy and society”, boiled down to what he termed as “prebendalism” which simply put, is the stealing of public funds by those entrusted with power and the sacred responsibility of conducting the business of government. The prevailing situation in Nigeria necessitates a rereading of that article and factoring its basic postulations into the debate about the cost of governance and ascendency of corruption in Nigeria today.
Nigerians have time and again, decried the excessive brunt being borne by the people in upholding the burden of governance in their country but to no avail. In fact, instead of receiving some remedies, they are being mocked by the perpetrators of this calamity on our nation with unparalleled relish and abandon.
Starting from the humble local government level through the states to the apex of the pyramid at the federal level, the cost of governance has grown exponentially with each passing year. This contrasts sharply with the deteriorating fortunes of the populace whose lot has become largely unenviable and debased almost beyond repair.
The perception about the mindless and unconscionable profligacy of politicians and government officials in the midst of general hardship and disillusionment about governance, warrants a reexamination of the Nigerian condition as of this moment. Reading both Professor Joseph and Dr. Usman coincided with my own ideas about the flaws in our governance arrangements that seem to gloss over contradictions and deficiencies and accentuate more the frivolities of the trappings of power and privilege.
I am left to question myself if at all those in politics and power know their responsibilities under a democratic dispensation that rests on the principles of accountability, the assumptions of rendering selfless service and the diligent observance of the rule of law.
Perhaps for sometime now, the more discerning and enlightened sections of the Nigerian society that see themselves above the common trivialities of politics, might have miscalculated in assuming the moral high ground and resisting the temptation to jump into the fray to engage in the political struggle to rectify the ills of the country.
This selfish indifference has today resulted in the capturing of the state by elements that have no conception of what the essence of nationhood is, or if they do, it means nothing to them other than engaging in what Professor Joseph described as prebendalism.
The common traits in this state of atrophy of morals and manners, are the subversion of the law by those entrusted with safeguarding it, and the trampling upon all decencies in society that could moderate the extremes of avarice and graft.
Translated into plain English, it is the predisposition towards assuming of license to engage in all manner of practices including the abuse of power and office once people step into government. Rapacity is the hallmark of this prebendal mindset accompanied by the complete disdain for decency in the flagrant display of ill-gotten wealth.
Ostentation and the display of infantile attachment to material possession betray the state of mind and moral degeneracy of these classes of Nigerians who are bereft of judgment and a sense of decorum and propriety.
While in years gone by their innocent and unsuspecting ancestors were deceived and seduced into parting with their lands in exchange for glittering trivia like beads, mirrors and trinkets, today they have graduated in proportion to the debasement of their self-esteem to the point of exchanging their natural patrimony for bullet proofed SUVs, diamond encrusted mobile telephones and other trappings of elite degeneracy. With the destruction or abandonment of all moral restraints, the patrons of depravity have plunged headlong into the abyss of self-abnegation with the nihilistic passion of the nouveau riche.
There are no bounds that they do not cross in the display of this wanton and senseless attachment to acquisition and gathering of loot and lucre that has disgraced our age and rendered our nation a pitiable piece of wasted greatness and aborted fulfillment. The vain and empty exercise of power and enjoyment of privilege seem to drive the desire to come into government and not particularly the desire to render service in the true and lofty sense of the term.
The Honourable Edmund Burke has provided some incisive insights into the conduct of the affairs of government as a trust and duty regarding which there can be no other higher purpose or object in public service. “To govern according to the sense and agreeably to the interests of the people is a great and glorious object of government”, was the wise counsel of Mr. Burke. How far this exhortation is known or taken to heart by those in positions of responsibility in Nigeria, is an unavoidable question to ask.
The series of essays that will hopefully follow this will take on and examine issues that are consequential in terms of governance and the manners of our age, that have led us into this cul-de-sac of bewilderment and the abyss of general despondency. Whether Nigeria can be redeemed by this or by some future generations is debatable. What is beyond dispute however, is that the augurs are bad and the hopes are rather dim!
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